In order to survive as a species, our body naturally develops a system to help us overcome threats and dangers by allowing us to become more aware of our surroundings; this is known as the fight-or-flight response. This response is triggered by the amygdala when your body senses danger, and in turn stimulates various body organs to work towards increasing vigilance, speed, and strength. In some cases, the fight-or-flight response is triggered due to feelings of stress, sadness, and anger frequently enough for the amygdala to mistake the anxious state for the new normal state, and therefore gives rise to anxiety disorders and anxiety attacks. While it can be exhausting to live through anxiety, there are ways to deal with the symptoms and rewrite the anxious wiring of your brain back to normal.
Diaphragmatic Breathing
During an anxiety attack, you may experience shortness of breath and tightening of the chest as a result of hyperventilation induced by the fight-or-flight response. The original purpose is to supply your muscles with more oxygen (also why you might experience a faster heart rate and heat, as your blood is being pumped into your muscles faster than usual) in preparation to run or fight. In order to counteract the symptoms and start restoring the normal state, more carbon dioxide should be in the body to slow down the breathing and heart rate. This in turn slowly makes you feel more relaxed and in control.
To perform diaphragmatic breathing, try to lay down if you can, and place one hand on your abdomen and the other hand on your chest. Now breathe in through your nose. Make sure the hand on your chest stays still but the hand on your abdomen rises as you inhale. Hold your breath for about four seconds. Exhale through pursed lips (as though you’re drinking from a straw) for four seconds, and notice your abdomen going back down. Try to focus on the rhythm of your breathing and forget everything else. Repeat several times.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
People who often experience anxiety tend to have tense muscles but don’t realize it as they’ve been tense for too long to remember what relaxation feels like. Progressive muscle relaxation is a technique that helps relax a group of muscles at a time to ultimately relax your body. Not only does this help an anxious individual immediately feel better, it also helps them distinguish between the tense state and relaxed state. Being able to distinguish these two states apart is crucial when it comes to sensing an upcoming anxiety attack or stressor, which can in turn be prevented by using muscle relaxation techniques.
To start, focus on a group of muscles (e.g. your right foot). Next, try to contract all the muscles of that group as hard as you can for five seconds as you inhale. Remember to contract only that specific group without affecting any others (you might accidentally tense up your right leg, for example). Then, let go of all the tension in that muscle group as you exhale. It is important to notice how that area feels afterwards, how looser and more limp it has become, more relaxed. Take 15 seconds to remain in the relaxed state, then move on to the next muscle group. Repeat the exercise until you’ve went over all the muscle in your body, then take some time to remain in that relaxed state.
Reality Testing
After physically relaxing, the next step to dealing with anxiety is trying to turn off the automatic response of the amygdala. To override the amygdala response, you need to use your frontal cortex (the part of your brain responsible for thoughts, logic, and reasoning.) Essentially this means that you must rationally and logically reassess the situation you’re in to let your body know that you aren’t in danger. One way to put it is you need to test your anxiety and emphasize the difference between you and your feelings.
Here are some things to remember or questions to ask yourself when you’re overwhelmed or stressed about a situation or event:
- Things aren’t either totally white or totally black – there are shades of grey. Where is this on the spectrum?
- Am I exaggerating this event and minimizing the evidence?
- Am I exaggerating the negative and minimizing the positives?
- How would someone else see it?
- What’s the bigger picture?
- Am I comparing myself to others?
- Am I solely focusing on one negative event and not seeing the positive things around me?
- What would be a more balanced and helpful way of looking at it?
- Am I assuming I know what others are thinking? What’s the evidence? Those are my own thoughts, not theirs. Is there another, more balanced way of looking at it?
- Am I thinking that I can predict the future? How likely is it that that might really happen?
- OK, thinking that the worst possible thing will definitely happen isn’t really helpful right now. What’s most likely to happen?
- How might this event be significant? What are others’ reactions to the event?
- Just because it feels bad, doesn’t necessary mean it is bad? Or just because I feel this way, does not automatically make it true. My feelings are just a reaction to my thoughts.
- Am I putting more pressure on myself, setting up expectations of myself that are almost impossible? What would be more realistic?
- I’m making an evaluation about the situation or person. It’s how I make sense of the world, but that doesn’t mean my judgments are always right or helpful. Is there another perspective?
- What is my personal responsibility in the recent event? What is not my responsibility? Am I trying to take blame others for my mistakes? Am I taking on others mistakes as my own?
- What are my goals? Does my success only count if I achieve greater than my peers? Is it possible to always be on top of the curve?
After distinguishing between your anxious thoughts and reality, try to remember and note down what triggered your anxiety in a thought log. Work on slowly facing your fears through gradual exposure. Most importantly, remember that your anxiety is just that—it will pass, and you will be okay.